Ordinance would ban people from putting wheel boots on cars parked in Cranford

CRANFORD — The practice of putting a wheel boot on vehicles unauthorized to park in the private lot at Cleveland Plaza shopping center, or anywhere else in Cranford, will be banned if the Township Committee approves an new ordinance at its next meeting on Nov. 26.

Beginning around the first week of October, a company hired by Cleveland Plaza owner Amy Liu started immobilizing vehicles parked in the shopping center lot off of North Union Avenue with a wheel boot, when drivers were seen walking elsewhere and not visiting stores and other businesses at Cleveland Plaza

Liu, who lives in Holmdel, purchased the shopping center about a year ago. She said in a previous interview that she decided to boot vehicles in response to complaints from several of her tenants about the parking situation.

Mayor Tom Hannen said on Oct. 28 that the proposed ban on wheel booting is an “interim step.”

“We also will be looking at other means by which we can allow a property owner to be protected, but also still give the consumer some type of protection in terms of how they can pay for releasing their car from being booted and what is the maximum price allowed to be charged.”

Currently the company called Parking Boot Service, based in Elizabeth, has been charging at least $100, cash only, to remove a wheel boot from a vehicle.

Hannen said the township attorney was tasked with investigating state law on booting, as well as towing vehicles.

“Apparently, the statute for towing a car seems to protect the car owner more than the statute for booting cars,” the mayor said.

Besides the ban of wheel boots, the language in the ordinance states that the act of booting a vehicle by a private property owner or anyone else “shall subject such violator, upon issuance of a summons and conviction in municipal court, and at the court's discretion, to a fine not exceeding $2,000, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days, or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, or any combination thereof.”

The Township of Cranford, however, would still be allowed to boot a vehicle under the ordinance rules.

A public hearing on the anti-booting ordinance is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Nov. 26, at the Cranford Township Committee meeting.